We’ve officially closed our Series A funding. We’ve all been working extremely hard to provide our clients with the most powerful and advanced communication platform and we really appreciate so many innovative and successful companies partnering with us.

Sailthru is revolutionizing the way our clients communicate and engage with their customers. We are very excited about this new chapter in our growth!

Our Series A round of financing was led by RRE Ventures. Participants in the round included AOL Ventures, DFJ Gotham Ventures, Hatteras Funds, Lerer Ventures, Pilot Group, and Thrive Capital. All except Hatteras Funds, participated in the seed round.

Sailthru will use the funds to scale, hire (We’re hiring!), and expand sales categories.

All of us would like to thank you for your support and patronage as we continue to innovate and build the next generation of communication platforms!

Get more details from our friends at Business Insider

Here is the official press release:

SAILTHRU ANNOUNCES $8 MILLION IN VENTURE FUNDING

TO FUEL EXPANSION IN E-COMMERCE, FLASH SALE & PUBLISHER MARKETS

RRE Venture Leads Series A Funding Round to Expand Business, Continue Service Development and Drive Innovation

New York, NEW YORK – September 20, 2011 – Sailthru, the only company that automatically tailors email, web and advertising content to every unique user, today announced that it received $8 million in Series A financing led by RRE Ventures; the firm also contributed to Sailthru’s seed investment. Other participants in the round included AOL Ventures, DFJ Gotham Ventures, Hatteras Funds, Lerer Ventures, Pilot Group, and Thrive Capital. All except Hatteras Funds participated in the seed round. This investment brings the company’s cumulative financing to $9 million.

The company plans to use this latest round of funding to fuel the growth in the e-commerce, flash sales and publisher markets, as well as add staff and invest in continued innovation. Since Sailthru’s launch in 2009, the company has helped major brands such as AOL/Huffington Post, Betaworks, Business Insider, The Newsweek Daily Beast Company, Fab.com, FlavorPill, the New York Observer, Oscar de la Renta, Oyster.com, Thrillist, and Turntable.fm increase revenue by delivering users highly relevant, personalized content via email, the web or advertising channels.

“Merchants and online publishers have long struggled with issues of engagement, retention and maximizing the revenue generated by each visit to their properties. Sailthru’s technology enables its customers to create individual offerings, both online and via email, using data science and analysis to consider the preferences and circumstances of each individual visitor to a site,” said Eric Wiesen, General Partner at RRE Ventures. “The platform helps customers maximize engagement and deliver messages at key times based on a user’s individual stream of activity. It is of huge incremental value to both publishers and ecommerce merchants.”

Sailthru focuses on perfecting the user experience. Content is automatically and continually tailored to the user based on their every interaction with the publisher or ecommerce company whether via email, mobile, website or advertising. When companies understand the interests and behaviors of their customers down to the individual level, they can present content users want to receive, and that will deliver higher, prolonged and more frequent engagement.

“Our goal from day one has been to help companies create a unique experience for each and every user that encourages continued engagement,” said Neil Capel, CEO of Sailthru. “As such, Sailthru’s technology helps brands build better, longer lasting relationships with users, and cultivate infinite customer lifetime value.”

ABOUT SAILTHRU

Launched in 2009, Sailthru is the only company that automatically tailors email, web and advertising content to every unique user. Sailthru’s technology lets publishers and e-commerce companies communicate directly to the individual user and deliver highly-relevant, personalized content through a number of channels.  As users actively participate in the process their behavior provides insight to create an experience that is even more personal and engaging. Additionally, companies are able to tailor new content (articles, offers, etc.) to the specific user which encourages an ongoing, profitable relationship between brand and customer. Well-known companies like AOL/Huffington Post, Betaworks, Business Insider, Daily Beast/Newsweek, Fab.com, FlavorPill, the New York Observer, Oscar de la Renta, Oyster.com, Thrillist, and Turntable.fm currently use Sailthru to increase revenue generated by their subscriber lists and site visitors. New York-based Sailthru is backed by AOL Ventures, DFJ Gotham Ventures, Hatteras Funds, Lerer Ventures, RRE Ventures, Pilot Group, and Thrive Capital.

MEDIA CONTACT

Haley Cook

Horn Group for Sailthru

hcook@horngroup.com

646.202.9756

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Preference centers were put forward under the rationale that it’s better to offer someone the opportunity to opt-down or change their content choices and such, rather than risk them unsubscribing, and of course, good email marketers want to offer people choice and flexibility!

Preference centers are a best practice (even though few marketers employ them at opt-in or opt-out), but what this really means is that they are the best practice traditional email marketers have to offer.

Up until Sailthru came along, the best option email marketers could provide was a preference center. But when you think about it, the idea of offering them really is an admission that we just aren’t that consistent at delivering relevant and engaging content to our subscribers.

“Oh, by the way, we might not always send you content that you find useful, so if we start doing that, please feel free to go to the trouble of using this long form to correct our shortcomings.”

Really? Shouldn’t you make the effort to get to know the subscriber and not force them to tell you?

Now, why would people bother to go to that trouble when a simple click of the unsubscribe or (heaven forbid) the spam button, will deal with irrelevant content which is not adding any value to their lives?

The only person most people will bother to create a list for containing their wants and preferences is Santa and most of us stop doing that when we hit 10.

It just doesn’t make much sense to ask people to go to even more effort and trouble in order to make sure email marketers do what they naturally expect them to do: deliver timely information they can actually use.

The biggest contradiction about promoting preference centers is that people using email marketing are consistently told to keep their subscription forms short – most people could care less after the third checkbox and they may even be annoyed if you insist on too much information. So, why is it that we think people will go to all the effort of ensuring they get relevant content at a frequency that suits them?

At Sailthru, we think the better, simpler solution is technology that delivers engaging, relevant and timely content consistently to your subscribers with no effort on their part. That’s why we’ve worked hard to create a revolutionary solution which takes this kind of drudgery out of the hands of email marketers and puts quality, timely and relevant content in the inbox of your subscribers.

I’ve been seeing an increase in unsecured wifi networks, named with fortune 1000 companies SSID’s. I know I’m in NY but there is no chance that where I am right now I can jump on Google, Groupon, or Hotels.com all of which are magically unsecured!

I’ve not had the time to investigate this much (I need to not use my day-to-day laptop!) however, I’m 99% sure these are nefarious and you should not jump on them! They will likely try to sniff passwords.

Be aware.

I am excited to announce that our client and partner Business Insider has launched “Your News,” a new service powered by Scout, Sailthru’s latest behavioral product. Your News provides the new level of personalization that’s sorely needed to meet the expectations of today’s sophisticated consumers.

There’s too much information online for me to absorb, so I want to quickly find the right content from the media brands I trust. I’m biased, as it’s my company, but I love how Sailthru technology is helping find what’s important to me without any effort. I rely on my daily Business Insider emails to equip me with the news I’m interested in, and to keep the content fresh. As an added bonus, I can now have that same technology power my very own RSS feed.

We’d love to hear your feedback about our recommendations: Do you notice how Your News provides you with dynamic, relevant content each time you visit Businessinsider.com? If we’re doing our job, Your News will make your time on the site even more enjoyable and efficient.

Can you tell where the pilot is headed?

Take a moment to consider this picture. Where is the plane going? Is it about to complete a magnificent loop-de-loop or crash into the side of a barn? Is it being piloted by a top gun or a novice? From this single moment in time, there’s clearly no way to tell. The answers to these questions may not seem so important…unless, of course, it’s your plane!

I bring this up because I’m still surprised when I encounter experienced email marketers who focus solely on campaign open and click rates. To these marketers, the formula seems simple: if they send 100,000 emails, they’ll get 30,000 opens, 10,000 clicks and 2,000 conversions. Overall, their main focus is on maximizing list growth and minimizing list attrition. All well and good, but fundamentally flawed.

Like the single image of the biplane, this sort of metric only accounts for a moment in time — a single campaign, if you will — and lumps all users into groups of those who clicked and/or opened the email. But the fact is, not all users are created equal: For some, this was their first click; for others, one of many over time; and for some, it will be the last time they ever click.

So your campaign may get 10,000 clicks, but if a typical user opens just one out of 10 emails she receives from you, it means that nine out of 10 times you’re serving up content she’s simply not interested in. In other words, you’re boring her!

But if you can look past the simple opens and clicks, you’ll find a list segment that holds far greater value as the driving engine of site traffic and revenue; the one you should be watching, nurturing and using for valuation metrics: Engaged users.

Engagement of an email subscriber over time

The reason is simple: phishing emails are sent to individuals that if the user clicks, may end up installing a kind of key logger on their machine. Once that user logs in to their Epsilon account the hacker now has a valid username and password to dive into all the PII (Personal Identifiable Information) stored that the user would have access to.

So on top of the OTA’s top ten I’d add the following recommendations:

As CEO of Sailthru, a service provider storing PII, we take the Epsilon leak as a serious hit to the industry in general. I hope that the above will help both our clients, other esp’s and any company that stores pertinent information about individuals. It’s our responsibility to look after the data entrusted to us by the consumer and our customers.

Do you want your brand to be perceived as not looking after your customers? If I’m a subscriber to your content who wants out, and it takes me 3 clicks to do it, I’m likely to do two things: start referring to your site as being shady, and report you as a spammer.

Make it EASY for users to unsubscribe, not hard. Putting up roadblocks to unsubscribing may provide the illusion of a large list, but it is deleterious to brand image, member satisfaction and list activity. It’s much better to have a high quality email list with an 80% open rate than a large list with a 10% open rate.

I speak with a lot of fellow entrepreneurs that are preparing to launch, are in beta, or just general startup mode, and much of the time they have no end-user engagement plan. Here’s an example: you have a holding page for your new exciting travel site, and you are out there talking to everyone about your impending launch. After people meet you they go to check out your exciting new website, but all they get is a simple holding page with no sign up. Four weeks later they hear from a friend about xyz.com. Do they remember that’s your site? Possibly. But then, can you remember what you ate for breakfast four days ago?

Here’s another example: this time there is a sign up box on the holding page, but no subsequent welcome email is sent. Four weeks later when you launch and send a mass email out to everyone, how many remember you? The importance of the welcome message can’t be overstated. (For more on this read here.)

So I’m rambling a bit, but this ties into Customer Lifetime Value, a key metric online properties do not focus on enough. Continuous, thoughtful engagement with your end-users can create an incredibly loyal and interactive user base. Consider how thoughtfully the Guccis and the Louis Vuittons of the world manage their brands, and be as dilligent with your own.  If you create relevant content for your user base you’ll create a loyal following, and user’s will do your selling for you out of devotion for your brand.

When someone signs up, send them a welcome email. And perhaps send them a follow up a week later if they haven’t interacted with you. But always keep relevancy key; there’s no point in flooding the inbox merely for the sake of continuous content. We’re all end users and all wish for the most beneficial relationship with our chosen brands.  The ultimate test is for each of us to ask, “How would I like to be treated?” and to treat others accordingly.

For one, the priority inbox is not a replacement inbox, it’s an enhancement. And it’s a great one at that. The reason email marketers worry about it is because they haven’t adapted their behavior to a world with priority inbox; they’re still sending the same emails to everyone.  And they’re still not relevant! When it comes to emailing your users there’s one simple question you need to ask. How would you like to be treated? Think about it: do you want the same email every day with no useful content? Do you want 6 emails in one day? Do you want a third party email from someone you never registered with, and with content that’s completely outside of your interest zone?

Treat your users with respect, give them quality content, engage them, email them what they want, when they want it, how they want it. And that’s how you get in the priority inbox…..

As with many of you, I have been in the marketing technology space for a little while. During that time, I have heard (and certainly spoken) my share of buzzwords. In fact, I could probably throw together 500 words on email marketing buzzwords — stay tuned for that blog post in the coming weeks! Anyway, two words I do not hear often enough in relation to email are “anticipated” and “appreciated.” There are two interesting trends occurring in the email marketing space that make these particularly relevant: the flash sale and localized marketing.

The flash sale. Online shopping sites like Hautelook, Gilt Group, Rue La La, LivingSocial and others have created hugely loyal followings based on incredible offers that are exclusive to the members of their communities. Email is a critical component of their business, essentially allowing flash sale vendors to deliver large volumes of email simultaneously to an opt-in subscription list and have their customers race to the shopping cart and check out with their items before the “deal” disappears.

Why are these programs so successful? The complete transparency between the brand and the subscriber coupled with constancy in messaging results in a base of subscribers who anticipate the marketing offer. These opt-in programs are not interruption marketing tactics; rather, they represent the ability of an email marketer to create a program that is so valuable, consumers actually anticipate its arrival.

Unfortunately, email marketers have become complacent due to their own success. Email is a highly profitable channel, yet only a fraction of recipients actually engage with daily promotional messages from brands. Marketers must take a very close look at their programs and ask themselves, “Is my subscriber anticipating today’s email communication — or is he/she simply going to ignore the message, along with so many others?”

Here are some strategies to improve the anticipation factor of your email marketing communications:

Continue reading the full post on Email Insider.